Brockport senior ends career with top-10 finish at states

Jul. 11, 2012

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Tyler Hill of Brockport, the All-Greater Rochester Player of the Year in boys golf, takes a break at Brook-Lea Country Club in Gates. / KRIS J. MURANTE//STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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The cut that separates who moves on to the state high school golf championships was something Tyler Hill knew all too much about.

“The past two years I’ve been close,” Hill said. “Being a senior, I didn’t want my last season to end early. I wanted to experience states.

“It’s a way to prove that I’m a relatively good player.”

Brockport’s Hill is more than that — he is the All-Greater Rochester Player of the Year. Hill owned the best stroke average in the Monroe County league, the area’s most competitive, with 37.5 over nine holes.

When Hill finally made it to Robert Trent Jones Golf Course in Ithaca for states, he showed no letdown. At 10th place, Hill was the top finisher from Section V.

“He got to the SuperSectional (Section V’s state qualifier) and he just missed out by a stroke or two a couple of times,” Brockport coach Steve Zaffuto said. “It was a big relief, he set that as a goal.

“I think Tyler was really focused. We always talked confidently that he would make it. Anything less than that would’ve been a disappointment, I think.”

Hill was in a five-way playoff for four spots at the end of the SuperSectional. He was in after the first playoff hole, his place at states written in pen, courtesy of a 1½-foot putt.

“It was one of those you make every time,” Hill said. “But knowing what it meant, I was terrified. My knees were shaking.

“I finished that, and I felt great.”

A happy ending for once, at the state qualifier.

“He’s a very quiet, laid-back kind of boy,” Michele Hill, Tyler’s mother, said. “It made me smile listening to him tell what happened.”

Hill expected a stiff challenge when he arrived at Cornell University for states and then did better than expected.

A 79 had Hill in a tie for 21st on Day 1 of the 36-hole tournament.

“I’m not really known for anything,” Hill said. “I just scramble around and get the ball into the hole. I’m more solid in a number of areas, more than a flashy kind of player.”

Hill finished his days as a high school player in style, however; a 75 vaulted him on to the all-state team. His final shot was a chip-in from about 50 yards for eagle.

“It went right at the hole, danced around it and then the ball just disappeared,” Hill said.

Hill’s parents, Michele and Carl, were there to see the shot and hear the buzz among the gallery at the hole.

“I never seen that amount of emotion from Tyler,” Zaffuto said. “It wasn’t a lot, but a little fist pump.”

“That’s crazy for me,” said Hill, who will play at Monroe Community College and hopes to move on to a school in the South.